This blog has nothing to do with gorillas (though I love 'em)...fellow bloggers have inspired me to share vintage images of Disneyland from my personal collection. But don't be surprised if you see something from a World's Fair, Knott's Berry Farm, or someplace else that is cool!

Monday, March 04, 2013

Today's slides were in a group that were undated, but I put them at around 1957 (because of a Viewliner image!). However, it is possible that two groups of slides were mixed together. Why? Because in this first picture, Tom Sawyer Island may or may not be open for business yet, and it didn't open until 1956. The mill looks pretty complete, though you can see some guys at one of the rafts to the left - I'm pretty sure they are workmen. The raft landing facing us is piled with crates and casks, the international sign for "Don't dock here"!

Also, Tom's Treehouse isn't in place yet. Instead, there is a temporary shack of some kind, possibly for tool storage (?), elf storage, or maybe it's a handy place to cool pipin' hot cherry pies.

Having rounded the bend in the Mark Twain, we look back toward the shores of Frontierland through a puff of steam. Radioactive steam! It's broad daylight, but you can see that the lanterns are lit on the island, which is just going to attract moths and skeeters.

You would think that after all these years, I would know better than to be drinking something while reading your blog. I almost spit out my coffee, thanks to you, sir! I love these photos and I'm wondering from which vantage point they were taken.

I hate that we always have to add that "in the Western Hemisphere" when talking about the "Mark Twain." If NPWA hadn't insisted on testing the Twain with an all-chimpanzee crew before risking a manned atomic paddle-wheel orbit around Tom Sawyer Island, we could have beaten the "Fyodor Dostoyevsky" out of drydock by several months.

The Sovs may have won the atomic Paddle-Wheel Race, but they never could make a decent boysenberry pie. Massive expenditures in an effort to close the "Pie Gap" were what eventually caused the collapse of the Soviet economic system.

Interesting side point. I wonder how the Knott's reacted to Disneyland? Was there social contact between the Theme Park Families? Were the Disney's viewed as upstarts?

The idea of Walt holding Cordelia Knott hostage on TSI is worthy of an alternate future FanFic comic book, where Jules Verne and Samuel Clemens collaborated on "20,000 Leagues under the Mississippi". Almost as cool as Daffy and Donald playing a piano duet.

When I order duck at a restaurant meal, I always ask the waiter if it is Daffy or Donald.

Chuck, the Russkies have made amazing advances in paddlewheel technology, recently launching the magnificent "Yakov Smirnoff" to the International Space Station.

JG, I've heard that Knott's and Disneyland were cordial to one another, especially because Disneyland brought so many more people to the region, all looking for stuff to do. I think Walter Knott was Walt Disney's kind of person… no-nonsense, hard working, and all-American.

I've read the same stuff about Knott & Disney. They coordinated their off-season park closure dates, so that on the days Disneyland was closed Knott's was open and vice versa, so as not to compete with each other during periods of slow business. They even went so far as to change their first names in a show of theme park owner solidarity.